test-drb May 2012

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

189 participants
220 discussions

by lists＠loomcom.com

Hey folks, Apart from the PDP-11/35 I'm restoring, I haven't got any other PDP stuff right now. Over the years I've had a lot, but I gave it all away to other collectors during the "Moving Houses Every Three Years" phase of my life. Now that things are a lot more settled, I'd love to play with some again. So, I figured I'd throw together a little wish list of PDP stuff I'm looking for. You never know, maybe someone has some of this they'd be willing to sell. I'm perfectly willing to pay fair market price, of course. Most Wanted ----------- - PDP-11/23+ (BA23 rackmount) or MicroPDP-11/23+ (BA23 pedistal). Maybe a strange thing to be "most wanted", but it's a college nostalgia thing. I'm sure you understand. - Any QBus PDP-11 capable of running 2.11BSD - so an 11/73 or 11/83 with 1MB or more. - PDP-11/40 Processor Options (KE11-E & KE11-F, KJ11, KT11, KW11), to extend my 11/35's minimal configuration. - G727A or G7273 grant continuity cards. My 11/35 is severely lacking in these :( I'm located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I'm willing to travel anywhere in the western US to pick these guys up. There's nothing like a computer rescue road trip! Thanks, -Seth

11 years, 12 months

Photos of the RA-81 drive spindle and disk enclosure

by alanp＠snowmoose.com

Some people were curious what the drive spindle and disk enclosure looked like, but weren't members of the vintage computer forum, so could not view the images that I put there. Sorry about that. Didn't know one had to be a member to view the photos. Here are links to the photos that anyone should be able to use - Drive spindle: http://www.wildwestrally.net/alanp/IMG_0342.JPG http://www.wildwestrally.net/alanp/IMG_0343.JPG Disk enclosure: http://www.wildwestrally.net/alanp/IMG_0344.JPG http://www.wildwestrally.net/alanp/IMG_0345.JPG If anyone is curious about what the rest of this stuff looks like, let me know and I'll shoot and post photos for you. Respond directly to me since I am subscribed to the digest and won't see your note until much later if you send it to the list. alan

11 years, 12 months

KIM-1 and Commodore [was RE: You're too late now, but

by dm561＠torfree.net

Original Messages: Date: Sat, 19 May 2012 11:43:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Cameron Kaiser <spectre at floodgap.com> >>> I liked the AIM-65, personally, but I don't have one. >> Time you got one then ;-) >If you have a spare one, bug me off-list :)) (seriously) Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems ---- And: ---- From: Philip Pemberton <classiccmp at philpem.me.uk> > And me too, please! (Also serious!) Phil. ------------------------------------------------- I do indeed have several spare ones but most of them are untested, in pieces, and not necessarily complete; if/when I get one of those round tuits and check them out I'll keep you in mind. Meanwhile, three just sold on eBay, two with enclosures and one probably a relatively rare 40kB version, for $150 to $339, so they're out there.. m

11 years, 12 months

Software for OCR'ing paper tape? (was: Question about Military terminal)

by dm561＠torfree.net

Original Message: Date: Wed, 23 May 2012 23:12:47 +0200 From: Torfinn Ingolfsen <tingox at gmail.com> Hello, >Also, his reader has one slight "defect" in my humble opinion; no automated >feeder. > So, if one was going to build a reader, were would one find the essential > parts? > - the photo diode array > - the sprocket wheel with the correct dimensions for reading eight-channel > tape. ---------------- If you're serious about building a motorized one I've probably still got some odd parts from readers and perfs I've scrapped over the years, including sprocket wheels; the electronics shouldn't be hard to find. m

11 years, 12 months

Software for OCR'ing paper tape? (was: Question about Military terminal)

by dm561＠torfree.net

Original Message: Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 08:11:11 -0700 From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> On 23 May 2012 at 23:12, Torfinn Ingolfsen wrote: >> So, if one was going to build a reader, were would one find the >> essential parts? - the photo diode array - the sprocket wheel with the >> correct dimensions for reading eight-channel tape. >When I posted, the seller still had an active item on eBay, so if > he's gone, it's not been but for a couple of days. > Also, see the commentary here: http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/21/forget-usb-3-0-add-a-tape-reader-to-your-p… -------------- I've seen that unit a few times in the past; nice, but for $180 I'd sell one of my motorized ones... m

11 years, 12 months

FS: RA-81 drive spindle and disk enclosure

by alanp＠snowmoose.com

On 5/23/12 11:08 PM, cctech-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > A bad design, apparently, with a bearing that is just too wimpy. > > Does anyone here have an RA81 that works? In somewhat regular use? I was given the impression that the two that I have were in more-or-less daily use (aside from maintenance and other normal outages) from when they were acquired new (I think '82) until the system was retired in the late 90s (I got it in '98). I spent the weekend moving drives (1 RA81, 1 RA81 chassis & 3 RA82s) around. What I was going to do next was power them up and try to run diagnostics. Any helpful hints on prepping drives that have been sitting for years for powering up would be appreciated. alan

11 years, 12 months

FS: RA-81 drive spindle and disk enclosure

by alanp＠snowmoose.com

On 5/23/12 11:08 PM, Ian wrote: > Heh. The RA81 HDA was an often-failed component. I had a deal to buy two racks of RA81's several years ago from a surplus computer dealer - and when I went to go take a look at them, it was painfully obvious that every one of them was missing the HDA. Just the motor and the boards/PSU were in the boxes, the entire HDA was missing. Apparently they must have sold off the HDA's a long time ago. Wait! I could get money for a RA81 HDA? Hmmm. Maybe have to rethink my offer to give Dave my complete RA81. Just kidding, Dave. The drive is yours as soon as you figure out how to get it from here to there. alan BTW, in case people haven't figured out, I am subscribed to the digest version of the list, so I don't see messages as they are posted to the list and can't reply in real time.

11 years, 12 months

FS: RA-81 drive spindle and disk enclosure

by jgessling＠yahoo.com

The RA81's were notoriously failure prone.? Rumors abounded for the reasons, things like the glue flaking off (from something) and coating the platters to (my favorite) that the fire control system in the Colorado plant somehow went nuts and pumped the contents of the pond into the basement of the factory and got everything contaminated.? This was especially delicious since the pond was prominently featured in their brochure as a decorative item and backup water supply.?? This would be around 1984 or so.? The Fugitsu Eagles were just appearing with great performance and reliability.? Since I was working for DEC's biggest customer at the time (BP) we got a special visit at our monthly meeting from a reliability specialist explaining whey the Eagles with their higher part count and less integration would have worse reliability.? This despite a graph presented by our Dallas manager showing the incredible failure rates of the RA81's.? They were replacing a few every week.? (they had dozens of them to hold all that seismic data).? Those Eagles made a lot of money for Systems Industries who were integrating them into VAX systems.? After a visit to their offices in Millpitas, California we bought a bunch of them for our San Francisco data center.? Good times, that.

11 years, 12 months

HP 9855A on ithistory.org

by hp-fix＠xs4all.nl

http://www.ithistory.org/hardware/hardware-type.php?pageNum_hardware=126 <http://www.ithistory.org/hardware/hardware-type.php?pageNum_hardware=126&to talRows_hardware=3715> &totalRows_hardware=3715 The HP 9855A is a hoax made up by the HP Computer Museum, but there seem to be people who take them self very serious including the hoax. So they placed it in the ultimate 'IT database', completely build from copied items from the various collector sites. Fun, -Rik

11 years, 12 months

VT220 focus

by BHuntsman＠mail2.cu-portland.edu

So I finally got my VT220 put back together! I have one I saved from the dumpster from a plant floor, but it was incredibly filthy. I disassembled it, cleaned it thoroughly, and put it back together (over a duration of 6+ months), and amazingly it still works! So, I had to hook it up to my MacBook Air, just for fun. Works like a charm, but characters on the left seem slightly fuzzier then others. Maybe that's just because I've been staring at the razor-sharp screens on my MacBook and iPhone too long, and the fact that this thing's 26 years old, but is there a way to sharpen them up a bit? Even if not, it's still darn funny to have a physical terminal on my MacBook! Thanks! -Ben

11 years, 12 months

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test-drb May 2012